We had a really fun Independence Day... well, that kind of depends on who you ask, actually. Jared was pretty sick this weekend, so he bowed out of the festivities. We had some family in town for my sister's baby blessing and all of us (excluding Jared) got together at their house for a BBQ and fireworks. The fire works ended up not happening because of wind and other unfortunate circumstances, but the kids had a lot of fun together.
4th of July
Chloe's First Fishing Trip
We had the opportunity to take Chloe out fishing for the first time just this week. We honestly weren't sure how she was going to do. We talked it up a few days in advance. When we woke her up to get her ready (at 6:30am), she sweetly asked Jared, "Daddy, we can go fishing now?" She didn't go back to sleep after getting dressed and on the whole drive down kept asking, "We get out and go fishing now?"
We should have known that she has absolutely no fear. She kept peeking over the side of the boat, even while we were going pretty fast. She wanted to touch every fish that was caught and even started to cry when Jared set one loose before she gave it a poke. She was extremely patient during the times that we were catching nothing and really helpful when we were. She even tried to help Grandpa reel one in. Unfortunately, she did it a little too slowly and the fish got away.
It was a really fun trip. All together, we caught about 20 fish, but only kept one.
The Conspirator
Though it will come as no surprise to anyone, Jared and I are still shocked daily at how smart Chloe is getting. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it.
Tonight she was pestering Jared for gummy bears. She asked him four times, each time getting a "no." After the 4th no, she exclaimed, "...but Mommy said 'yes' !" So, Jared led her into the kitchen where she grabbed the bag. I shot him a confused look and asked why she was getting some, knowing she already had one earlier. He told me about their conversation. I then explained to him that I had never given her permission. We both looked at Chloe and quickly tore the bag away from her.
Not more than 30 minutes later, Jared went out for a jog. Chloe came to sit by me. She asked if she could watch cartoons. I said no and she quickly jumped on me with a "...but Daddy said 'yes' !"
I am still not sure where she has gotten this approach, but she is sure working it hard.
Duckies!
Chloe's biggest love is duckies! Her Easter basket was duckie themed and she gets so excited to wear her big girl duckie panties (I still can't believe I was able to find those by the way, and on sale too :) ). This is her current duckie collection. It, of course, does not include her stuffed duckies, foam duckies, or duckie bedding.
She has a hawk-eye for duckies. In a pile of toys, she can find the duckies in 30 seconds or less, which does make it hard to pass up at a store, hence the small farm of duckies we have here. It could be worse. At least rubber duckies are fairly inexpensive.
Antelope Island
Jared attempted to surprise our family with a trip out to Antelope Island with our friends Mark and Chelsey on Saturday. I mention attempted because he told me it would be something fun that we have not done before and it would be a bit of a drive. Since there is not much to do up north that does not require extra gear, Chloe and I figured it out fairly quickly.
It was a cool experience. We got to see several bison up close. One lady got a little too close, and two free roaming bison charged at her. Not to worry, she is fine, but hopefully she knows now to give them some space.
The odd experience of the day was Chloe's reaction to sand. Many of you have seen in person, or on photos, how she freely roamed the California beaches, picking up sand and rocks. Well, not so this time. Maybe she didn't like the feeling of it between her toes (she normally has shoes on in CA because we often visit in the winter), or maybe she's not used to any ground surface being hot (in which case she'll be a lot of fun this summer). Either way, she refused to walk any where, requiring carrying every step of the way.
Family Pampering
For our birthdays, we got a certificate from my mom to use on pedicures and manicures for all three of us. It took us a while to find the time to do it together, but it was a lot of fun. Chloe was so patient getting her nails done, though she didn't quite get that they would still be wet. Needless to say, hers were redone a few times!
Chloe's new favorite color is blue. We let her pick her polish and that's what she chose for both her fingers and toes.
We asked her to show off her new nails. :)
Potty Training: Successes and Failures
We decided to start training Chloe last week... well, to be fair, Chloe decided it was time. I was getting her ready for bath time and I asked her if she was ready to hop in. She said, "No, I wanna pee on the potty." I told her she could. She usually takes off her bottoms, sits on her little potty (does absolutely nothing) then exclaims "All done!" and puts her pants back on, or runs away pants-less, laughing. So imagine my shock when I actually heard a tinkle this time! I thought it might be a fluke, so I continued to get the bath ready, when she told me she was going to use the potty again. Sure enough, she went a second time!
We realized that she was ready, and we needed to jump on this opportunity. The first day, she wet her pants nine times, the second day only twice. She had no trouble sitting on the potty, and didn't fight it at all.
So I thought I was doing great, but that was about as good as it was going to get.
She still has at least 2 accidents each day. I need to ask her to go, she wont initiate it yet. Also, I am doing more Lysol-ing, Spot-Shot-ing, and laundry in the past few days than I feel like I ever have in my whole life.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel...
Jared took her out today to run some errands. He tried to get her into some training pants (we wont even attempt underwear when leaving the house) and she threw a fit. She exclaimed "No, Daddy, I wanna wear my big girl panties!"
I guess she's not my little baby anymore!
